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Monday, March 5, 2012

Charcoal Grey Dining Room

Why is it that the dining room is often last on the list? I do entertain pretty much once a week, but we were still living with a very unfinished room.

It all came to a head when I hosted a dinner party for 12 and with no soft surfaces in the room, it was incredibly loud. Then we had Thanksgiving brunch for 14. Loud. Fun, relaxing and awesome, but loud. Then Thanksgiving dinner for 14. Different group. Also fun and relaxing, but loud. An aside- I am now officially in charge of hosting Thanksgivings since even though I had a 3 week old baby it was the best version of that holiday I have ever had. I think it's the house.

So, I started hunting for upholstered chairs. And in the same breath I also started looking for upholstery sealer. Duh. It's because I have kids. So when I found a million reviews for Marine Formula 303, I knew I could do it. That's the stuff they use to waterproof boats and outdoor furniture, it can totally hold up to my kids. So I discovered the chairs. These lovely striped Becca chairs from O.co.

The chairs are incredibly comfortable, and they work well with the rug.

The rug is also from O.co (formerly Overstock). I love buying rugs from them since shipping is either free or $2.99, you can't beat that for such a huge (heavy) purchase. I am less in love with the rug, but I figure for less than $400, when it gets too gross, I'll just turn it into a play area rug and get a new one.

Now may I present to you, our dining room in all of it's current glory.

View from the kitchen. You can see all about that shrine to white cabinets and marble here.

View from the living room.

The doors between the kitchen and dining room close off. I'm in love with the circle design!

I was having people over anyway, that's why I set the table.

I'm so happy with how the beamed ceiling turned out.

Lights also from O.co, I'm sensing a theme. Table from Ikea. Which rocks, since I can clean it with a Clorox wipe (hello children!) and it extends to seat the aforementioned 14 people for Thanksgiving.

We are still negotiating on art for the four large blank walls. I might try my hand at painting something myself, stay tuned!

The chairs look great! Such a smart idea to put sealer on them. I would need that just for me... I am prone to making messes. We love entertaining too and are finally getting around to showing our dining room a little love. I can't wait to post about it later this week.

That is an unbelievably gorgeous dining room (I mean, it started out gorgeous). I have to know the name of your wall color. And all the things you added are lovely. Plus I am very impressed with your entertaining chops. Will be back to visit!!

OK....... I for one like the rug, I think it's the texture. The ceiling. Just saying that looks great is an understatement, saying I love it it seems so blah. So saying I want one probably is out of the question but maybe you can see I am attracted to it. As for art, I vote yes for you painting something yourself.

Beautiful house and gorgeous trim work (love those circle doors and the ceiling detail). Love how you've carried a consistent but not identical color scheme from room to room since every room seems to open onto other rooms; my downstairs is totally open like that and I too recently decided to go with a color-blocking approach between the rooms. So glad to learn about the marine waterproofer / stain repellant ... make me a little more apt to try some dining room slipcovers now.

When we lived in a house with a "formal" dining room, we only used it 3 times in the 3 years we lived there, so when we bought this house, having a separate dining room was not a consideration. I have my formal dining room table sitting in my eat in kitchen, and it gets used every day.

Your dining room looks amazing! Love love love those chairs and the wall color is perfect! If you have time I would love for you to come link up some of your projects at my linky party.Amy@homehappyhome.blogspot.com

OMG, your house is AWESOME! Your dining room is huge, and the library...Great selections on the chairs and rug! Can I come to Thanksgiving dinner too? Thanks for linking up. I'm going to feature you on Monday.

About

I'm a Harvard-trained architect, now staying at home with 4 young children. I designed and built my dream house, then did it all again with a modern vacation house. I'm putting my passion for design, food and family to work. I built the dream, but I still live in reality.